After finishing an impressive third in the inaugural Women’s Ballon d’Or, Sam Kerr has been named the third-best female footballer in the world according to the English newspaper The Guardian.
The 100-strong list, released Friday night AEDT, placed Kerr just below Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas and Dutch forward Vivianne Miedema.
The voting panel included an Australian connection with coaches Joe Montemurro (Juventus) and former Matilda and current head coach of the Western Sydney Wanderers A-League Women's side Catherine Cannuli asked to deliver opinions.
Kerr climbs from her 2020 ranking of seventh to third, with The Guardian highlighting her breakout season with Chelsea that saw her claim the WSL golden boot and help the Blues to their first-ever UWCL final appearance as a catalyst to her climbing the rankings.
At the international level, Kerr scored six goals for Australia at Tokyo 2020 helping us to our best ever placing at an Olympic Games. Kerr finished four goals behind second-place Miedema on the Tokyo 2020 golden boot race.
Kerr currently leads the golden boot race in the FA WSL with nine goals to her name and has already helped Chelsa claim the Women's FA Cup with two goals in the Blues 3-0 win over Arsenal.
Ellie Carpenter was the only other Australian that finished in the top 100, taking out 66th place moving up from 76th place from last year's rankings.
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